Always Learning

by   July 23, 2015 with No Comments

Last week I went to the annual Career & Technical Education Summer Conference in Greensboro. It’s an opportunity for teachers to learn some new things to bring back to school for next year. I do enjoy learning and being exposed to new things. I also enjoy seeing my colleagues who teach across the state. The older I get the fewer familiar faces I see each year. The older teachers have retired and others have gone on to different opportunities.
While I enjoy reconnecting with old friends, I also enjoy learning new things. Since I love technology, I always try to sign up for sessions that will expose me to new programs or apps that might appeal to my students. This year I discovered several new programs that I want to use in my classroom.
I took my ipad with me to the conference so I was able to go to the websites or download the apps right away. I used some of the programs and saw how they could improve my instruction in class. It’s tough to get and keep the students’ attention because they have so much pulling at them. If I can incorporate technology in the lessons it might help the students engage more with my curriculum.
In one of the sessions we learned how we could play learning games with our students. Some people believe that learning should be hard work, while others believe that making the learning fun helps the students connect better with the material. There are some people that believe the students need to sit in straight rows and face forward, while others believe in making the students move around the room while playing learning games. Who’s right?
I believe that every student learns differently. I am an auditory learner, if I hear it, I will learn it. My wife is better at learning through reading. I have taught many students through the years who didn’t learn something until they had to do it. So a good teacher, in my opinion, needs to incorporate a variety of learning techniques in the classroom. There is no one method that guarantees success with all students.
As a veteran teacher, I realize that I still have things to learn about education and educational methods. I look at my colleagues and see so many different techniques they are employing to instruct their students. When I consider these things I realize that I don’t know everything about teaching, and the same can be said about spiritual things.
I have been a Christian for a long time, yet I realize that there is still so much about God that I do not know. I have been fortunate to have some great pastors who pushed me deeper in my faith, yet I realize that even they have to learn about God. My current pastor is always reading and learning more about God. He is hungry for the things of God. That energy and desire challenges me to apply myself to what I have learned and to dig deeper and grow stronger in my own faith.
Like all learning, spiritual lessons are absorbed in many different ways. Some people only learn in the school of hard knocks. I want to grow by reading God’s word and applying it to my life. I want to grow because I am seeking God for a more intimate relationship. I want to grow because I have a pastor who pushes me because he is pushing himself. I want to grow because I am investing my life in others and they are investing in me.
I want to build my life with things that have eternal value. I know that if I apply what I learn spiritually I can build a reward for myself in heaven. That means that I don’t want to just grow lots of leaves, but I want to produce fruit for the kingdom. I want to be a blessing to the people in my life. I want to be a light in the darkness. I want to continue to grow and feed my spirit so I can have a positive impact on my little corner of the world.
I want to encourage you to never give up on growing and learning more about God. Each of us knows Him in a unique way and we have much we can learn from each other. My parents taught me by example that you should always be reading and learning more. God wants us to grow and learn more about Him. He has a purpose for each of us. His purpose is that we would know Him, which means we will never stop learning.

Doug Creamer has two books at Amazon: The Bluebird Café & Revenge at the Bluebird Café. Contact him at doug@dougcreamer.com

Critters

by   July 9, 2015 with No Comments

Last night I was taking out the garbage when I got a little surprise. I walked through the garage and noticed something long and black lying on the ground. When I took a second glance at the object to see what it was, I realized it was a snake. Once I was over the initial surprise of discovering a snake in my closed up garage, I helped him find his way out. It was a black snake and I know they are good for keeping the mice and other rodents under control.
Actually, I might like to introduce that snake to some chipmunks that have been causing problems on our back porch. The chipmunks have been getting the sunflower seeds we put out for the birds and planting them in all the flower pots on the back porch. They also ate more than their share of my blueberries.
There have been some other critters that aren’t making me happy. The rabbits have been helping themselves to my sweet potatoes. I have planted slips at least three times and they keep disappearing. I know some of the work has been done by the rabbits but they had some help from the deer.
Rabbits and deer are beautiful animals when they are in fields munching on grass and clover. When they come in my yard and eat my vegetable and flowers, they are no longer cute. My neighbor has pictures of the deer standing in my garden helping herself. I bought an electric fence to help “encourage” the deer to go someplace else.
I also have a box turtle who lives over in the woods but he likes to come to my garden too. He has a taste for the melons…which haven’t been able to grow this year because the rabbits and deer keep eating my young seedlings. I took the turtle a piece of watermelon rind when I saw him the other day.
I thought my beans might have a critter free year, but I was wrong. I went out the other day to discover holes in the leaves. It was some kind of bug that loves to eat bean leaves and they were throwing a big party. The plants are still producing beans, but they don’t look pretty.
I imagine it must be tough to be a farmer when I consider the battles I fight just to grow my garden. I think the battles I fight just to grow my garden are similar to the battles we must fight to grow our spiritual lives. God tells us that He wants to see spiritual fruit in our lives, but I believe there are “critters” trying to keep us unfruitful.
We live in a world where anger and bitterness thrive. These are not fruit of the spirit, yet talk shows and news programs build an audience through displaying these character qualities. If people act this way and they are caught on video, it will go viral.
It seems that hatred towards our neighbors and people who look or act differently has become the norm. Where has brotherly kindness gone? It seems that people are choosing to live in various kinds of sinful situations, so the answer seems to be to ostracize and vilify these people. We are all sinners in different ways; do you believe that God thinks one sin is worse than another? Where have the qualities of mercy and forgiveness gone? Jesus was often found with tax collectors and sinners. He told us it was the sick that needed his doctoring.
My pastor pointed out on Sunday that one of Satan’s purposes is to divide us. He wants husbands and wives to divorce. He wants to break down relationships between parents and children. He wants churches to speak negatively against other churches. He wants gangs and nations to kill each other. God want us to live in unity. It doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything, in fact, it’s OK if we see and believe things differently. We are Christians united around Jesus Christ our Savior. We are Americans united for freedom and liberty.
I want to encourage you to look around your spiritual garden and see what kinds of critters are eating your spiritual fruit. It’s not easy to live the Christian life, but He wants us to be fruitful. What kind of fruit does He want to see? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Imagine if everyone in the world lived like that, what a wonderful world it would be. I want to produce this kind of fruit for my little corner of the world; I hope you do too.

Doug Creamer has two books at Amazon: The Bluebird Café & Revenge at the Bluebird Café. Contact him at doug@dougcreamer.com

A Series of Fortunate Events

by   July 2, 2015 with No Comments

Favor is such a beautiful thing. I still can’t believe I got to travel around Norway and Sweden with my mom. I’m sorry, that is just too cool! We had such a good time! As it turns out Scandinavia is WAY more expensive than any place I’ve been. For both of us to stay in a hostel it would cost almost as much as a decent hotel in the States. No thanks. So aside from one night in a hostel and two nights on a train, we stayed at peoples homes through a site called airbnb.com. Similar to couch surfing, but you’re actually paying for a room, not just a free spot on a couch. The first place we stayed was in Gothenburg, Sweden. We were hosted by the sweetest girl who gave us full access to her cute little Ikea decorated home. My mom lived in Gothenburg when she was a teenager so we had fun exploring the same streets that she used to explore. Our next destination was Bergen and there we stepped into a higher level of favor. The lady who’s home we were staying at was out of town so she gave us the keys and told us to make ourselves at home. Upon arriving in Bergen we found ourselves walking up the cutest path and into the coziest house that there ever was with a beautiful view of the North Sea. The owner had just left earlier that morning so we walked into a fire going and pancakes on the counter. I’m telling you, favor is wonderful.

I have to give my mom some major credit. She is a trooper! Guys, I am not an easy person to travel with and having been on my own for over two months has only made matters worse. I never really know where I’m going but wherever it is I want to get there fast. And then once I get there I probably won’t want to stay very long cause I’ll be ready for the next thing- whatever that may be. Then there’s my mom and she is…well, not the fastest of people. Not that she can’t move fast cause she totally can, she just knows how to really enjoy beauty and all its little details. Literally, all of them. Like the lines on the floor giving the whole house a rustic feel, and the star hanging in the hall just waiting for someone to place a candle inside so it can illuminate the darkness and bring a sparkling light. These are things I never would have noticed. Not in a million years. But I actually think these little details are crucial, especially when traveling. If you don’t notice the detail and take in the richness then it all gets boring pretty quickly. Like castles for example. I have visited so many castles while on this trip and after a while it starts to loose its spark. A castle is a castle is a castle, but castle with a marble staircase that spirals upward towards a ceiling that is decorated with magical paintings that are dripping with history and all being held up by stone pillars that have been standing for hundreds of years- that is something entirely different. But if we do not notice the detail then that same castle is only a castle.

Back to Norway- that country is seriously doing something right. We came across the most friendly and most beautiful people that there ever was. Literally every single person in that country is gorgeous. On Sunday’s everything closes down (literally, everything) practically forcing people to get outside and be productive. The entire town of Bergen was outside on Sunday either walking, running or hiking. AND all they eat is dairy and bread. Seriously, I love their ways. On our last full day we planned to take a day train from Bergen to Oslo. However, my great last minute booking skills gave way and we were stuck having to take a night train (the second of our journey. I told you, my mom’s a trooper). So anyway, that gave us another full day in Bergen with no agenda. The weather in Bergen is completely unpredictable. It is actually the sister city to Seattle and these sisters certainly love rain. However, The Lord lavished even more favor on us and we ended up having the most beautiful day. We went into town with the intention of doing a short hike up a mountain over the city. Four hours later we found ourselves with a 360 degree view that totally blew our minds. The North Sea on one side, and endless mountains on the other. Norway is amazing. Hiking up we really had no idea where we were going we just wanted to get high. Seeing as neither of us could read the Norwegian signs we just kept walking in the general direction of where we wanted to go-up. About mid-hike we came to an area where the path split 3 ways. In the middle was this:

Sign on Tree

If you’re looking for a sign, this is it! Simple and humorous, yet profound. I mean really, how often do we get stuck somewhere cause we don’t know where to go next? Sometimes ya just gotta go with your gut and see what happens. Like I always say, why not?

And now I am in Germany with one of the coolest cats around. I am staying with Kathi, a girl I met in the States 8 years ago and we’ve kept in touch via Facebook (praise God for social media). She mostly remembers me cause we had the same shirt- instant connection. We were destined to meet again:) We’ve spent the last few days sitting on trains, visiting shopping malls, and eating proper German food. It’s been so good! Then next week I am off to the Netherlands to see Gillian, my sweet sweet Irish friend from Harvest School. So much glory awaits! Oh how I love favor.